


The Way Home

by Cerillen



Series: I'm Still Standing [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (Pas-happen/happening/happened), A lot of the other chapters are very cute and fluffy, And he just wants to make him happy, But he deals with it cus his best friend is too soft, But some bits in the story kind of just end up like this, He just keeps adopting unfortunate strangers, Heck yes to all the platonic love, I didn't even really mean for this to start off so emotionally, I have never done one of these before, I swear it's not just going to be all angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Human Experimentation, It's giving Logan stress, Look it's a 5+1, Platonic Analogical - Freeform, So cut me some slack if it's terrible, Virgil is totally a mom for the entire group, also, sorry i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:14:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerillen/pseuds/Cerillen
Summary: Virgil wants to help the kind people he meets by giving them a safe place to call home.Logan just wants Virgil to be cared for as much as he cares for everyone else for once.or5 Times Virgil Adopted Strays Without Telling Logan Beforehand.And 1 Time When Logan Did The Same.





	The Way Home

It had been years since Logan had last seen his best friend.

In that time, he hadn’t managed to find anyone else tolerable enough to take his place.

There had been many who’d tried.

All sorts of people who attempted to befriend the stone-faced genius in whatever ways they could.

Gifts and invitations to events.

Professions of love and affection in all matter of methods.

Attempts to learn more about him and share themselves in return.

There were even a few individuals who attempted to bond with him using their own genius intellects as some sort of connection between them.

But, in the end, nothing worked.

Logan rejected every single attempt.

Not because he couldn’t be friends with any of them.

On the contrary, he’d actually quite enjoyed spending time with a number of the people who’d vied for his attentions.

That wasn’t the problem.

The problem came from expectations.

From them.

And from himself.

Because they all expected to become his best friend one day.

To be closer to him than anyone else.

To stand above all others as the only person good enough to hold his complete trust and attention.

But that could never happen.

Because Logan had been spoiled.

Spoiled by an anxious young boy covered in makeup coated bruises.

Who’d asked him questions about his ideas and listened to him ramble on and on about whatever caught his interest, all while seeming completely and genuinely curious and interested in turn.

Who’d always remembered his birthday, even when his parents forgot, and learned alongside him how to bake a cake from scratch to celebrate each year.

Who’d helped whenever he was hurting and brought him comfort in his darkest of days.

He’d been spoiled by the kind boy with sharp eyes and soft smiles.

Who’d moved away as an orphan at the age of twelve.

Only to disappear completely at the age of sixteen.

He’d gone looking for him after that.

Of course he had.

The last message he’d received, through the specially made phone he’d crafted for his friend long before he’d moved, had simply said that he was feeling anxious around his new caretaker.

That he wasn’t sure why, but the man now caring for him made him want to run away and hide.

Logan had been concerned when he’d received no new messages after this.

Wondering why it was that his best friend wasn’t responding to his own sent messages for the next two days.

And when the news declared him missing…

Logan had, admittedly, panicked.

He’d been ready to invade his friend’s new home and demand answers of the man meant to watch over him.

But his parents had stopped him.

Reminding him that he could do more good for his friend by staying safe and careful rather than wrathful and panicked.

So Logan had stayed home and done everything in his power to search for his missing companion.

Days, then weeks, then months of fruitless searching.

Every clue he found was quickly converted into a misdirect.

Every lead, a red herring.

Every hint, another dead end.

He did his best to continue living normally, all the while.

But he’d been spoiled.

No one could match up to the best friend he’d grown accustom to over the years.

And nothing could quench his need to find him again.

Not until his father finally told him the truth.

Then, he stopped searching.

He continued to live life normally.

He made friends.

He went to school.

He studied all manner of subjects that caught his interest.

And he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until two years had passed, and his best friend’s eighteenth birthday came and went.

And he arrived in the parking lot of an old and, meant to be, abandoned military facility, standing amidst a group of similarly stone-faced lawyers as the building burned and fell apart right in front of them.

The sound of coughing was noticed first.

Then a man walked out of the smoke, holding Logan’s soot covered father in his arms while another man, who was missing an arm and part of his abdomen, leaned heavily against him.

Three glowing orbs of lavender light screeched threateningly above him, matching, and almost harmonizing, with the deep growling of two shadows curling protectively around the whole group.

Logan’s breath hitched when sharp violet eyes met his own.

The man holding his father stumbled briefly before continuing to walk towards him and the gaggle of lawyers.

A quiet warbling noise fell from the man’s lips and the shadows and lights surrounding him calmed in reaction.

One light in particular floated ahead of him and twirled swiftly around Logan and the lawyers before zeroing in on him and coming to settle gently onto his shoulders.

A soft, barely there, warble sounded from the light as it melted into the form of a small scarf on his shoulders.

He gave it the softest of pats as the man before him came to a stop just a few feet away.

“Logan.”

His voice was deeper than it had been when they’d last talked.

Rougher as well, though Logan wasn’t sure if it was something natural or if it was simply caused by the smoke inhalation.

He was also far taller than he had been.

Which wasn’t very surprising given how long it had been since he’d last seen him in person.

But his sharp eyes were still the same.

“Virgil. Welcome back.”

As were his soft smiles.

“Thanks, Lo.”

Those two simple words, and that nickname he hadn’t heard in years especially, held a volume of emotions that Logan was not able to deal with in that moment.

So he was rather relieved when his father coughed once more before wriggling in Virgil’s arms to be let down.

Once the elder genius was placed gently onto his own two feet, he turned to look at all of them in turn before addressing the other two still covered in soot.

“These are the lawyers that will help you regain your identity and gain access to your inheritance. All of the necessary papers and documents have been collected already, so you should be completely safe once we leave this parking lot. The authorities will likely arrive soon to investigate the fire. When that happens we’ll all leave this place behind, sticking with the true story of what happened here without mentioning any dangerous names.”

Virgil nodded, wrapping one of his now free arms around the waist of his injured companion.

“Right. Thank you for doing all of this, Dr. Fauste.”

A shake of his father’s head had Logan twitching as he realized what was about to be said.

“I only helped arrange our escape. Logan is the one who went through the effort of contacting the lawyers and preparing the documents for you. He’s also the one who shut down the security system for us. So, if you’re going to thank anyone, it should be-“

“Father.”

Logan’s voice was sharp, but his father only smiled at him in response.

A quiet huff of laughter caught his attention and made his gaze return to the one standing in front of him.

Still looking at him with those familiar sharp eyes and that same soft smile.

“You’re still bad at accepting compliments.”

The words were as soft as the smile that formed them.

The prickling heat behind Logan’s eyes was overwhelmed ever so slightly by the sudden irrational urge to push his best friend and swiftly walk out of the parking lot, away from the softness that was practically suffocating him at this point.

Ignoring that urge, as well as the prickling behind his eyes, was a herculean effort.

 Instead, he simply turned away from his friend to speak to the lawyers behind him.

“If you would all please begin the process of reinstating Mr. Knight’s identity. We don’t have much more time before the authorities arrive to investigate.”

The reminder of their task brought the lawyers surging forth to speak to Virgil and push some various sheaves of papers at him to swiftly glance over and sign.

But, before the process could truly begin, and before Logan could escape for a breath, Virgil called out to him.

“Wait, Logan. What about Dee?”

The genius blinked in confusion before turning back to his friend.

“Dee?”

Virgil nodded, gently giving the wrecked man leaning into him a squeeze.

“Yeah. He’s always been an experiment here, so he doesn’t have an identity past that.”

Logan looked over at the other man, really taking him in properly for the first time.

Mismatched eyes, one light brown and the other bright yellow and reptilian, gazed tiredly back at him from a pale and partially scaled face.

There was exposed wiring and mechanics mixed in with the torn flesh and dribbling blood of his body, explaining why he was still capable of moving around so easily when he was missing both a limb and a good chunk of torso.

Logan remembered his father mentioning other experiments living within the facility.

“And you want to help him?”

But he’d mostly expected that they wouldn’t end up being his problem and had simply made arrangements to help Virgil and his father alone.

“Yes. Please, Logan. I know it’s probably a lot to ask for but…”

Though, he supposes that he should have, given the nature of his best friend.

“…I wanna help him. I can’t just leave him on his own.”

He’d always been far too kind for the world they lived in.

Logan sighed tiredly and brought a hand up to rub gently at his eyes, carefully readjusting his glasses afterwards.

Then, after giving his soft-hearted friend one final look of mild irritation, brought his tablet up from where it had been resting in the arm at his side and began swiftly tapping at the screen.

“I’ll begin the arrangements for the instating of a new identity and registry of citizenship. The necessary paperwork should be collected within the next few hours and we can begin the process as soon as Dee is ready to do so. In the meantime, he’ll be considered your property as the Knight heir in order to keep him under the radar and safe until everything’s ready for him. Is that alright with both of you?”

He glanced up at the two escaped experiments in front of him.

And immediately wished he hadn’t.

He was far too busy now to deal with all of the emotions that filled him when Virgil was looking at him like that.

Like Logan had given him the world.

Like he was grateful and touched.

Like he was proud to call him his best friend.

Dee nodded tiredly against Virgil’s shoulder and slumped further against him as he seemed to relax in relief.

“Yeah. I’m alright with it. Thank you, Logan.”

Dee’s voice was a barely there whisper of sound, slightly strained from the pain and exhaustion he was likely feeling.

Logan’s body throbbed a little in sympathy as he gave an affirming nod before returning his attention, reluctantly, towards Virgil.

His friend nodded as well, still looking at him with that same frustrating expression as he spoke.

“I’m okay with it too. Thanks, Lo.”

Virgil huffed out a little laugh again.

One that made Logan want to scream and run forward to strike the chest it was pushed out of.

“I really don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Suffer.”

The word fell out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Virgil gave a single, surprised, blink before bursting out another, slightly hardier, laugh that was matched by the silently shaking shoulders of his now smiling companion.

Logan huffed, irritated, and turned away to continue tapping at his tablet in peace.

He, dutifully, ignored the slightly wet quality to his best friend’s laugh and waved his hand briefly as he called back to him and the gaggle of lawyers still surrounding him.

“Take care of the paperwork! We only have approximately ten minutes before the authorities arrive!”

* * *

 

Hours later, after the paperwork was finished and they’d finally been released by the authorities and the hospital alike, Logan found himself in a large and mostly empty mansion.

It was clean and stocked with all of the essentials.

He’d made sure of that while they’d all been temporarily accosted at the police station to give testimonies.

His father had gone home, along with the lawyers, as soon as they were all released from the hospital.

And Logan had, naturally, gone with Virgil and Dee to the property that would now be Virgil’s home.

 Upon their arrival, Dee had fled to find a room with a bed he could sleep on, Virgil giving him a quiet goodnight before wandering further into the mansion in silence.

And Logan, without much thought or hesitation, followed him.

Neither of them spoke as they walked the considerable distance within the mansion.

Until they reached an ornate black and silver door that Virgil opened to reveal a room filled with curtained windows.

It was a beautiful and immaculate bedroom.

With a large sitting area filled with plush couches and pristine tabletops, what was likely a wonderfully luxurious en suite bathroom, a walk in closet that was likely to be just as decadent in size and furnishing, and an overly large bed covered in impossibly soft black and purple fabrics that took up a rather large corner of the room which was hidden partially out of sight by some hanging privacy curtains.

“They brought me here once.”

Virgil’s voice echoed in the overly large and opulent space.

“I didn’t see them at all until we had to go home.”

It made the room seem even bigger than it actually was.

“I picked this room out myself and stayed here, pretty much, the entire time.”

Virgil walked silently over to the window’s closed curtains and stopped beside a silver lever on the wall.

“Cus the view here’s the best in the house.”

The lever was pulled and the sound of old but still functioning mechanisms filled the echoing silence as the curtains steadily opened.

And Logan understood exactly what Virgil meant.

On the other side of the windows, which took up an entire wall of the room, was a small and isolated garden surrounded by high stone walls and illuminated by the light of the night’s full moon.

Within the garden was a pond with a gently streaming waterfall, the water crystal clear and still in a way that seemed almost unnatural, allowing it to reflect the starry sky above it.

A large and gently swaying willow tree overlooked the pond, some of it’s branches gently lapping at the water’s surface.

Small white flowers dotted the soft grass that covered the ground, and vines covered in jasmine blossoms climbed lazily over the stone walls surrounding it all.

The sight was breathtaking.

“I didn’t think I’d see this place again.”

Logan couldn’t see Virgil’s face from where he was standing.

But he knew his best friend.

Even though he’d changed over the years.

He was still Virgil.

He was still that kind boy with sharp eyes and soft smiles.

So Logan didn’t have to see his face to know what it looked like.

He didn’t have to see the tears to know that they were falling.

And he didn’t have to hear the words to know what Virgil needed.

There was no uncertainty in his movements when he wrapped his arms around his taller friend.

The difference in height made his hands shake though.

The muscled torso made his chest tighten painfully.

“Logan…”

The deep voice brought a prickling heat to the back of his eyes.

And his throat closed up as the man he hadn’t seen in years turned around in his arms to face him.

Tears fell steadily from familiar sharp eyes and trembling lips were pulled into the same soft smile that had left him forever spoiled for everyone else.

“Thank you for bringing me home.”

Overly strong arms wrapped gently around him.

A familiar and steady heartbeat thumped soothingly through the warm chest he was pressed against.

An overwhelming feeling of safety and belonging washed over him in a wave of familiarity and comfort he hadn’t experienced in over six years.

And, finally, for the first time in a very very long time, Logan let himself go.

“I’M SORRY!”

The words fell out as a sob, his body shaking violently as he pressed even closer to the best friend he’d thought he’d lost.

Virgil’s arms only tightened further around him as he cried, letting out familiar warbling sounds of comfort that only made him cry harder.

And the strong man his best friend had become wrapped himself around Logan’s shaking form as if to protect him from the world they both knew was far too cruel.

Just as he always had.


End file.
